Geophysical Intelligence
All human activity leaves direct physical evidence in the earth and affects earth system’s dynamics that may be manifested as signatures in the soil, vegetation, geologic surfaces, water, and atmosphere. These signatures may be visible only under certain conditions such as: time of day, time of year, during specific stages of vegetative growth, during specific times after rainfall, when there is light snow
cover, and during specific windows after isolated events.
Northrop Grumman's Geophysical Intelligence is defined as information about current and previous human activity gleaned from these signatures. The key is to model the earth systems dynamical processes to understand when and how to look for these signatures. Modeling these signatures involves the fusion of multiple technical disciplines such as soil pedometrics, botany, geophysics, hydrology, and metrology.